A survey targeting ASPHER members was launched in 2010/11, being a first initiative in improving ethics education in European Schools of Public Health. An 8-items questionnaire collected information on teaching of ethics in public health. A 52% response rate (43/82) revealed that almost all of the schools (95% out of 40 respondents with valid data) included the teaching of ethics in at least one of its programmes. They also expressed the need of support, (e.g.: a model curriculum (n=25), case studies (n=24)), which indicates further work to be met by the ASPHER Working Group on Ethics and Values in Public Health.

Engineering education in Sweden as in the rest of the world is experiencing a decline in student interest. There are concerns about the ways in which students think about engineering education, why they join an academic programme in engineering, and why they persist in their studies. In this context the aims of the Nationellt ämnesdidaktiskt Centrum för Teknikutbildning i Studenternas Sammanhang project (CeTUSS) is to investigate the student experience and to identify and support a continuing network of interested researchers, as well as in building capacity for disciplinary pedagogic investigation. The Stepping Stones project brings together these interests in a multi-researcher, multi-institutional study that investigates how students and academic staff perceive engineering in Sweden and in Swedish education. The first results of that project are reported here. As this study is situated uniquely in Swedish education, it allows for exploration of a Swedish perspective on conceptions of engineering. The Stepping Stones project was based on a model of research capacity-building previously instantiated in the USA and Australia (Fincher & Tenenberg, 2006).

This article discusses experiences of on-going evaluation within a project funded by the EU Structural Funds. A question that is particularly illustrated is how we as on-going evaluators have handled the dilemma between closeness and involvement in the project in relation to distance and a critical approach. This dilemma is standard within action- and interactive research and becomes particularly evident in a concrete reality within a project. The problem is important to illustrate, especially considering the fact that the on-going evaluation task is politically governed, that is, the EU requires that the customary evaluation be replaced with an on-going evaluation. Furthermore, on-going evaluation finds itself in a developmental phase where discussions are carried on about how to define the concept and also on how the role as an on-going evaluator should be worked out. A possible outcome of this could be that the on-going evaluation becomes far too uncritical, or critical, and with that not come up to the expectations that are placed. In this article the point of departure is that the task of the on-going evaluator is to follow the development in a project vis-á-vis established goals with the purpose of creating practice-relevant knowledge. We also discuss the balancing that exists between being supportive of progress, giving constructive criticism and not being regarded as far too critical. After having worked in an innovative development project for two years, we have been strengthened in our understanding that the interactive research approach, concept usage, theoretical connection and methodological knowledge constitute imperative demands in order to handle the changing between closeness and distance

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show how a model for sustainable learning has been formed in the meetings between practitioners and researchers. Design/methodology/approach: With the point of departure in an interactive research approach, the authors have worked with learning and common knowledge development. Empirical data were collected from nine learning seminars, which were carried out within the framework of an EU project. Findings: It is shown by means of empirical examples from an ongoing EU project how the pedagogic method of learning seminars came to be a mediating tool for reciprocal learning between researchers, project leaders and project participants. Originality/value: The learning seminars constituted an important part of a reflexive learning process where the learning consists of both practicable and theoretically anchored knowledge. Together with the project participants, the authors developed a model for sustainable learning. This model consists of a reflection model, which rests on four fundamental conditions; pedagogic leadership, the learning group, problem areas/situation and time aspects. This article fills a significant knowledge gap in terms of the development of learning within organizations.

VISIR+ is an Erasmus+ project that aims to develop educational modules for electric and electronic circuits theory and practice following an enquiry-based teaching and learning methodology. The project has installed five new VISIR remote labs in Higher Education Institutions located in Argentina and Brazil, to allow students doing more experiments and hence acquire better experimental skills, through a combination of traditional (hands-on), remote and virtual laboratories. A key aspect for the success of this project was to motivate and train teachers in the underpinning educational methodology. As such, VISIR+ adopted a 3-tier training process to effectively support the use of VISIR in the Institutions that received it. This process is based on the "train the trainer" approach, which required the participating partner institutions to identify and engage a number of associated partners, interested in using their newly installed remote lab. To measure the quality of the training process, the same satisfaction questionnaire was used in all training actions. This paper presents a detailed description of the training actions along with the analysis of the satisfaction questionnaire results. Major conclusions are that the quality level of the training process remained practically the same across all training actions and that trainees sometimes considered the practical use of the VISIR remote lab as difficult, irrespectively of where and when the training action took place.

The use of remote labs in undergraduate courses has been reported in literature several times since the mid 90's. Nevertheless, very few articles present results about the learning gains obtained by students using them, especially with a large number of students, thus suggesting a lack of data concerning their pedagogical effectiveness. This paper addresses such a gap by presenting some preliminary results concerning the use of a remote laboratory, known as VISIR, in a large undergraduate course on Applied Physics, with over 500 students enrolled.

ABSTRACT. This article discusses how theoretical and practical knowledge is integrated in higher education. With the point of departure in an interactive research approach we have worked with the formalizing of knowledge exchange and with common knowledge development. The overall purpose of the research project was to describe and analyze a learning process where both practicable and theoretically anchored knowledge is in the forefront. By following the education in a social-science programme, a model for sustainable learning was developed. In the centre of the model is a learning process for the integration of theory and practice where the intended learning outcomes, general skills, course literature and time constitute the established framework. Different forms of interaction and workplace-related studies became mediating tools, that is, they created opportunities for learning departing from dialogue, questioning, reflection and analysis.

Remote laboratories are an emergent technological and pedagogical tool at all education levels, and their widespread use is an important part of their own improvement and evolution. This paper describes several issues encountered on laboratorial classes, on higher education courses, when using remote laboratories based on PXI systems, either using the VISIR system or an alternate in-house solution. Three main issues are presented and explained, all reported by teachers, that gave support to students' use of remote laboratories. The first issue deals with the need to allow students to select the actual place where an ammeter is to be inserted on electric circuits, even incorrectly, therefore emulating real-world difficulties. The second one deals with problems with timing when several measurements are required at short intervals, as in the discharge cycle of a capacitor. In addition, the last issue deals with the use of a multimeter in dc mode when reading ac values, a use that collides with the lab settings. All scenarios are presented and discussed, including the solution found for each case. The conclusion derived from the described work is that the remote laboratories area is an expanding field, where practical use leads to improvement and evolution of the available solutions, requiring a strict cooperation and information-sharing between all actors, i.e., developers, teachers, and students.

The Research Methodology in Software Engineering and Computer Science (RM) is a compulsory course that must be studied by graduate students at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) prior to undertaking their theses work. The course is focused on teaching research methods and techniques for data collection and analysis in the fields of Computer Science and Software Engineering. It is intended that the course should help students in practically applying appropriate research methods in different courses (in addition to the RM course) including their Master’s theses. However, it is believed that there exist deficiencies in the course due to which the course implementation (learning and assessment activities) as well as the performance of different participants (students, teachers, and evaluators) are affected negatively. In this article our aim is to investigate potential deficiencies in the RM course at BTH in order to provide a concrete evidence on the deficiencies faced by students, evaluators, and teachers in the course. Additionally, we suggest recommendations for resolving the identified deficiencies. Our findings gathered through semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and evaluators in the course are presented in this article. By identifying a total of twenty-one deficiencies from different perspectives, we found that there exist critical deficiencies at different levels within the course. Furthermore, in order to overcome the identified deficiencies, we suggest seven recommendations that may be implemented at different levels within the course and the study program. Our suggested recommendations, if implemented, will help in resolving deficiencies in the course, which may lead to achieving an improved teaching and learning in the RM course at BTH.

In order to shed light on the role of higher education and its importance for innovation and entrepreneurship this paper presents the results of a survey of the four major technical universities in the Nordic countries; Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland; Chalmers Technical University in Gothenburg, Sweden; the Danish Technical University in Copenhagen, Denmark; and the Norwegian Technical University in Trondheim, Norway. Through the survey we have investigated what forms or tools the four technical universities use to collaborate with industry in education and to what extent these forms affect innovation in companies and entrepreneurship. The survey results show that there are five main forms of educational collaboration for innovation and entrepreneurship: 1) Thesis and project assignments, 2) Internships, 3) Executive and continuing education, 4) Entrepreneurship education, 5) Meeting spaces for innovation, platforms or arenas, between companies and students. All four technical universities use all five forms but with varying intensity. In terms of volume of activities and an innovation perspective thesis and project assignments by engineering students in their finishing year seems to be the most important form. From an entrepreneurship perspective the entrepreneurship education and related facilities such as incubators seem be most important.

The purpose of this paper is to present the process and evaluation of case writing projects in co-operation with companies and organizations in a course for engineering students. The case writing projects could provide an illustration and example framework for working with companies in constructing cases. Normally cases are constructed for teaching purposes in higher education. However, in order to get closer co-operation and more interest from the companies the authors encouraged the students and the companies to construct cases on issues that the companies felt were especially relevant for them. Drawing on previous research on case writing in teaching case writing projects were set up. The companies who worked closely with the students were very satisfied with both the case writing process and the final cases. These companies expressed several benefits like getting a good public reputation, getting an analysis by a third party, a free look on possible future employees, maintaining good relations with higher education and also getting material for internal development purposes. The companies that had a more distant relationship to the projects or were the process had been problematic had a more critical view of the process and outcome. They saw few benefits with the case writing projects besides maintaining a good image.

In the year 2000 a new interdisciplinary M.Sc. Engineering Programme started at Uppsala University, Sweden. The programme, named Systems in Technology and Society, combines science and technology with studies in humanities and social science. Of the 4.5 year long programme (all MSc Engineering education in Sweden are 4.5 years), one third (a total of 1.5 year, spread over the first 4 years) of the curricula consists of courses in humanities and social science. The courses are based in different disciplines such as economic history, social and economic geography, business studies, political science, philosophy, history and history of ideas and science. The courses are integrated with each other, in order to stimulate a deeper knowledge within the interdisciplinary academic field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The students of this new programme are more active in discussing the relevance of different content, in order to understand why they should study this. We see this as a result of the training in critical analysis and reflection that they obtain in the courses within humanities and social science.

Although academic skills, conceptualised as writing and critical thinking, are a vital part of university studies, research indicates that many students leave without having mastered these skills effectively. This research also reflects on nursing students. Nursing could also be said to be hampered by a number of complex educational challenges that are likely to impact on the academic socialisation process in general. These challenges include being a relatively ‘young’ academic discipline, the ‘theory–practice’ divide, a knowledge bed lying on a complex intersection of two ‘antithetical sciences’ and, at least in the Scandinavian countries, an increasing number of nurse educators with a PhD in nursing science but with limited time to develop their own teaching skills. In combination, these challenges have the potential to act as stumbling blocks, both from a teaching and learning perspective. I would suggest that a departure in teaching fromtheoretical educational models, such as Lea and Street's ‘academic literacies model,’ including skills, socialisation and academic literacy models simultaneously, could be one of several ways forward to create a learning environment that takes these issues into account.

In Sweden, regulations from the National Agency for Higher Education advocate an education that equips students with independence as well as critical, problem-based thinking, i.e. academic literacy skills. However, some research findings indicate that students may leave higher education without mastering these skills effectively. As part of quality-assuring a nursing programme at a university college in south-east Sweden we explored the nursing student's view of crucial academic literacy skills, such as critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing, by conducting a descriptive, qualitative study. Informants were recruited through an advertisement posted on the university's e-learning tool. Eight focused interviews were conducted during autumn 2010. The transcribed interviews were analysed – inspired by content analysis – and two categories became apparent: constantly questioning and formality before substance. The latter revealed a gap between the student's perception of academic writing and that of the educators, thus implying that nursing students might not be equipped with the tools they need to develop within academia. We suggest that students could benefit in their academic endeavours from theoretical educational models that integrate several academic skills simultaneously and which could be incorporated into the development of syllabuses and curriculums.

The key role of engineers for the transformation of society towards sustainability is a strong motivation for increasing the environmental knowledge within engineering education. Doing this by the concept of integration is presently considered more appropriate than to develop more new education programmes for environmental specialists. This paper describes the integration of environmental aspects into a mechanical engineering education programme. The Natural Step Framework has been used as a basis for this integration. It has been possible to include environmental knowledge without compromising the engineering quality of the programme.

Some solutions to a programming problem are more elegant or more simple than others and thus more understandable for students. We review desirable properties of example programs from a cognitive and a measurement point of view. Certain cognitive aspects of example programs are captured by common software measures, but they are not sufficient to capture a key aspect of understandability: readability. We propose and discuss a simple readability measure for software, SRES, and apply it to object-oriented textbook examples. Our results show that readability measures correlate well with human perceptions of quality. Compared with other readability measures, SRES is less sensitive to commenting and white-space. These results also have implications for software maintainability measures.

Modeling is a key skill in software development. The ability to develop, manipulate and understand models for software is therefore an important learning objective in many CS/SE courses. In this working group, we investigated how and when (software) modeling is taught to help us better understand the key issues in teaching (software) modeling. Several shortcomings were found in common curricula, both in their understanding of the term "modeling" and in how they address its teaching. This WG report summarizes the fi ndings and formulates recommendations on the inclusion of software modeling courses in future CS/SE curricula.

Based on a pilot study at a school where pupils work together exploring a virtual world (Fifth Dimension 5D), the objective of this article is to investigate the potential of software, interaction and integration related to instruction. Foci are set on a conceptual development of a virtual collaborative didactic. More concretely, we explore mediated interaction in collaborative weblogs between pupils managing classroom and computer room congenial problems, tasks and assignments. The objectives and foci are set on development of an integrated didactic on English and computer competence. From a starting point where the design of a virtual learning environment is investigated and developed, the idea of weblogs, agency, instruction and integration is portrayed as a situated approach for operating 5D as a game, a mystery and a challenge. The design of the study has motivated the whole class of pupils, as well as inspired and increased narrative text production.

During a substantial part of their time young people of today actually live in a virtual world. The medial evolution has also influenced education and today much research work basically concerns the transfer of the physical world into the virtual one. One example is laboratories in physical science that are available in virtual rooms. They enable studentsto sit at home in front of a computer and on screen watch and operate the physical equipment in the laboratory at school. It is a general agreement that laboratory lessons are necessary in subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology. Physical experiments provide a great way for students to learn more about nature and its possibilities as well as limitations. Experimental work can be provided bylaboratories in three different categories; 1) hands-on, 2) remote and 3) simulated. This thesis concerns the usage of remotely controlled laboratories in physics education at an upper secondary school. It is based on work carried out in a joint project between Katedralskolan (upper secondary school), Lund, Sweden, and Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH). The object with this project is to investigate feasibility of using the VISIR (Virtual Instruments System in Reality) technology for remotely controlled laboratories, developed at BTH, in upper secondary schools. This thesis consists of an introduction, followed by three parts where the first part concerns the introduction of the remote lab to students and the usage of the remote lab by students at the upper secondary school, Katedralskolan. Both first year students and third year students carried out experiments using the remote lab. The second part concerns activities carried out by 2 teachers and 94 students using the remote laboratory VISIR. An integration of VISIR with the learning management system used at school is described. Teaching activities carried out by teachers at Katedralskolan involving the VISIR lab are discussed, e.g., an exam including problems of experimental work using the VISIR lab and an example of a student report. Survey results on student satisfaction with the VISIR lab at BTH and the perception of it are presented, indicating that VISIR is a good learning tool. Furthermore, the survey resulted in a proposal of improvements in the VISIR lab user interface. Finally, the third part focuses on enhancements of the VISIR lab at BTH. An improved version in the VISIR user interface is presented. New iPad and smart phone availability of the VISIR lab is presented. Electronic experiments for upper secondary school students are described in detail and examples of suitable configurations are given. A new VISIR acoustic lab has beenimplemented and initial experimentation by upper secondary school students have been carried out. The outcomes from these experiments are discussed.

This research aims to shed insights and produce supportive tools to help stimulate the design of education programs. First a characterization of opportunities and challenges for education programs is given from a global sustainability standpoint. Second a characterization of what education programs may contain and take into account from a full sustainability standpoint, as an outline of education programs in a desired future at a principle level, is provided to help inspire purpose-led education services organizations. Third an outline of possible tools and strategies to help strategically close the gap between the current unsustainable state and the desired sustainable future is provided. A special focus is put on the Template for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD) process tool, originally used to help industries in their production chain, but here adapted as the “Sustainability Potential” Express Strategic Assessment for Education Programs to benefit education programs stakeholders. The authors also propose a set of three abilities acting in synergy: Creativity, “Knowledge Making” & “Open Values” (CKMOV) that are at the heart of Strategic Sustainable Development and thus may help form three equally vital pillars, which education programs may strategically take support from while helping society transition to a sustainable equilibrium.

In the autumn of 2004, two higher educational programs in e-government will be starting up at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Southern Sweden. One of these is a Master’s level program, while the other is a more basic, two-year vocational education. Each will be the first of its kind in Scandinavia, and both will be offered as net-based distance education. The interdisciplinary group of researchers/teachers now developing the courses for these educational programs, in co-operation with several other research groups in Scandinavia, see this co-construction of distance education as the beginning of an active Scandinavian network of competence around higher education and ongoing research and development in the e-government area. We are currently exploring the possibilities of using distance education in this area as a way of networking around on-going e-government research and competence enhancement in Scandinavia. The Scandinavian tradition of Participatory Design, as well as ideas about e-government as constantly ongoing co-construction, have inspired us in our work with developing the new educational programs. A reference group consisting of representatives from a number of municipalities and various government agencies plays an important role in this work.

This thesis focuses on interaction in netbased education. The purpose being to increase awareness about what promotes interaction in netbased education through understanding and categorizing the students’ opinions . My method is qualitative with a phenomenographic approach. I have conducted a netbased survey with 21 respondents who have completed a netbased course. Further I have followed up and chatted with 7 of the respondents in the survey. The survey resulted in five different qualitative categories: the technique, the teacher, the student, the study guide and the physical meeting. The result shows clearly that the asynchronous forum of discussion is a very important factor in enhancing interaction. Respondents who are skilled and experienced chatters see the chat as a positive model for interaction. The teacher has an important role to promote interaction. They have to be skilled in the technique and also take part in the forum in various ways and degrees. However some of the respondents do not want the teacher to take part in the forum discussions. The teacher must even be active and respond quickly to simple questions. The student should also be well trained in the technique and be responsible for his own and the group’s studies. The study guide must be constructed so to enhance student cooperation. It must be very clear and contain the extent of cooperation needed in regard to examination work. Physical meetings are regarded as important but very few participate.

There is mounting evidence that humanity is facing challenges that call for a strategic approach towards sustainability. The urgency is acknowledged by a growing number of people, but worldwide awareness, collaboration and a shared vision is required to create a sustainable society. Education is a gateway to prepare and engage young minds to be the change that is needed to transform societal systems. Teachers therefore have a grave and important task in engaging their students in learning to make strategic contributions towards a sustainable society. This thesis explores how teachers are already successfully engaging 14-15 year old students and it delivers a model with the essential elements of engagement: Interaction and Participation, Exploration, Relevancy, Engaging and Challenging Instruction, Authentic Assessment and Reflection and Futures Thinking. At the core of this model there is Systems Thinking that feeds into all elements and Fun should inherently be part of all teaching. The model, a tool for teachers to plan their classes strategically, is presented in combination with scientifically based concepts for Strategic Sustainable Development, including backcasting. A set of questions is defined to guide teachers through the process of integrating sustainability into how they already engage their students in learning.

This project is a learning CD-ROM production aimed at first-time parents. It is using both sound and images, moving as well as non-moving. The purpose of the production is to be an interesting alternative to traditional books. We have been looking at similar productions like drivers license educational CD-ROMs and encyclopedias for inspiration and ideas on how to proceed. In order to give the content some dynamics, we've also added the element of 3D-animated sequences. The application is supposed to be run as a simple executable file with flash embedded. This will eliminate the need for third party software installation. The whole concept is to make the application as simple and as userfriendly as possible. In addition to the CD-ROM, we've also created a web site to help market the product and give our client the ability to update the content on their own. Future buyers of the product will also be able to order the CD-ROM via a form on the web site. This product has been created using vector based graphics through applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Flash MX. The 3D rendered sequences has been created using Alias Maya. The production has also been complemented with a speaker.

Remote laboratories give students the opportunity of experimenting in STEM by using the Internet to control and measure an experimental setting. Remote laboratories are increasingly used in the classroom to complement, or substitute for, hands-on laboratories, so it is important to know its learning value. While many authors approach this question through qualitative analyses, this paper reports a replicated quantitative study that evaluates the teaching performance of one of these resources, the virtual instrument systems in reality (VISIR) remote laboratory. VISIR, described here, is the most popular remote laboratory for basic analog electronics. This paper hypothesizes that use of a remote laboratory has a positive effect on students' learning process. This report analyzes the effect of the use of VISIR in five different groups of students from two different academic years (2013-2014 and 2014-2015), with three teachers and at two educational levels. The empirical experience focuses on Ohm's Law. The results obtained are reported using a pretest and post-test design. The tests were carefully designed and analyzed, and their reliability and validity were assessed. The analysis of knowledge test question results shows that the post-test scores are higher that the pretest. The difference is significant according to Wilcoxon test (p < 0.001), and produces a Cohen effect size of 1.0. The VISIR remote laboratory's positive effect on students' learning processes indicates that remote laboratories can produce a positive effect in students' learning if an appropriate activity is used.

Aims and objectives: To describe and analyse to what extent the goals of the education in promoting culturally competent nursing care have been achieved from a student perspective. B: As Sweden has transformed into a multicultural society over the past 50 years, there is a need to specify, at all levels of the nursing programme, transcultural concepts for the success of integration. A research-based didactic model was designed for the nursing programme at Malmö University and this was followed by investigations of its outcome. Method: The study is a prospective cohort study with an outcome analysis. A descriptive research study with a longitudinal design was performed, with the focus on Swedish nursing students´experiences of transcultural nursing knowledge and their attitudes before and after implementation of the didactic model. The students evaluate highly their competence to meet demands of multicultural health and medical service. Additionally, their ability to recognise and understand the consequences of international migration on health also received a high mean. Conclusions: The study revealed the knowledge and experience acquired by Swedish students in transcultural nursing. The assumption was that a visible development of knowledge should occurduring the three years of education. Interpreting the findings, such effectiveness can be found and hopefully the students will be able to give holistic nursing care based on a person's individual culture.

This article examines some of the main points of recent library development, building on phenomena or concepts such as particpation, democracy, web 2.0, library 2.0 and convergence cultures. We start with two cases closely related to activities at Blekinge Institute of Technology. The first case is about building a community for national and international cooperation about learning objects in the setting of a search guide. The other case is about a project aming to bring our patrons into the discusson about the library and our future. Finally, we discuss the role of librarians in a world where knowledge processes go from a hierarchical, authoritative perspective to a participative, inclusive mindset.

Blekinge Institute of Technology library has offered education in information seeking on campus and online and has developed web based tools for this which have received much attention1. The Quick Search Guide and The Search Guide are now used in all courses we offer at Blekinge Institute of Technology. The Quick Search Guide contains very basic information about searching and evaluation of sources. The Search Guide is both more extensive and deeper than The Quick Search Guide. But in the light of Web 2.0, The Search Guide’s lack of participation seemed outdated, in some respects, so we decided to rework it, and this time we were going to do it based on open source systems. From Consultants to Open Source When we decided to switch from a system tailored by a consulting firm to an open source system, we were confronted by a fairly large set of choices. One important decision was the question of which open source system was to be the base to work on. Another important question was about the community the system was supposed to serve. In our view the community was in focus, but the choice of system was also crucial since its job is to underpin the community. Our main directives when we looked for a system were that it had to be fairly light weight and based on standards. It was also important that it was based on the most common programming languages and software structures. But the most important aspect was interactivity and communication. One of the main points for switching software was the move from information publishing to communication, and that aspect had to set the stage for what kind of system we choose. Our choice was Wordpress, the largest weblog software in the world. It is a native communication system, and it meets all requirements we had. The Searchguide 2.0 community system comprises two Wordpress installations, a shared library/community of texts and learning objects, and a local customizable end user search guide. Agendas And finally, we want to point to the theoretical/philosophical agendas of the project. * we want to participate in the open source, open access movements. We think this is an important step for the whole community of learning professionals. * we want to collaborate around learning objects. * we also want to raise awareness and knowledge about lightweight, open source, web 2.0 systems. * in the process we hope to be able to communicate participation strategies which makes us wiser and better equipped for the future. * let users participate in the creation of content – in the local search guide. * Communicate library interaction strategies. A large part of the participating organizations will probably be libraries.